Veteran rapper and activist Eedris Abdulkareem has clarified that his controversial new track Tell Your Papa is not a personal attack on Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, but a direct response to Seyi’s public praise of his father amidst growing national hardship.
In March 2025, Seyi Tinubu stirred public debate when he described his father as “the greatest president in the history of Nigeria” during an event in Yola, Adamawa State. That comment, Abdulkareem said, inspired the song.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Rubbin’ Minds on Sunday, April 13, the rapper said, “The song is a wake-up call. It’s not about Seyi personally, but about the tone-deaf celebration of leadership that’s clearly failing millions of Nigerians.”
He added, “If Seyi hadn’t made that video, I wouldn’t have responded. But since he did, and since it came at a time when Nigerians are suffering from insecurity, hunger, and joblessness, I had to speak up — through music.”
Abdulkareem stressed that the track wasn’t driven by malice but by frustration: “Nigerians are only asking for the basics — electricity, security, jobs. Not palliatives. I advise Seyi to hand the mic back to the MC next time. His speech lacked awareness and purpose. Silence would’ve served him better.”
He went further to contrast President Tinubu’s role as a parent with his performance as a national leader: “He may be a great father to Seyi, but he’s the worst president Nigeria has had. While Seyi is empowered, Nigerian youths are jobless and hungry. Let Seyi try traveling by road without his convoy — then he’ll understand what everyday Nigerians go through.”
The song Tell Your Papa has since been banned by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for being “inappropriate for airplay.” The move has been widely condemned by free speech advocates, including Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, who called the ban a threat to democratic expression.
Abdulkareem compared the controversy to the 2004 banning of his song Nigeria Jaga Jaga under the Obasanjo administration: “Twenty-four years later, ‘Jaga Jaga’ is still relevant. That speaks volumes about our country.”
The rapper has long used his music as a platform for social and political critique. In 2024, he dropped Emi Lo Kan, taking aim at both President Tinubu and Pastor Enoch Adeboye, touching on economic inequality and ethnic marginalisation. In 2018, his track Letter to Mr Obasanjo accused the former president of being a central figure in Nigeria’s problems.
On Instagram, Abdulkareem responded to the NBC ban with a scathing critique of the current administration: “This government is proving to be one of the most vindictive, insensitive, and incompetent in Nigeria’s history. Truth and constructive criticism are treated like crimes.”
He concluded by quoting Uthman Dan Fodio: “The conscience is an open wound; only the truth can heal it. Aluta continua.”
